Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 is $147 at Dan Murphy's this week. Across roughly 25 standard drinks in the bottle that comes to about $5.79 a pour, which lands a dram at home just under a pint at the pub — about $13 for near enough two standard drinks, so about $6.28 each. Not a small bottle, then, but cheap by the pour for a full-strength whisky.
Here is the shape of it. At $147, the Quinta Ruban sits above what the drinkers of the bottles closest to it would pay for it. It is a bottle priced for its own fans: it fits them, and asks a bit more of everyone else.
What the nearest drinkers would pay
1/Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 is $147 this week. Price its age, name, strength and wine-cask fruit the way the rest of the range at Dan Murphy's is priced, and you get $233. That is about 37% under the going rate for its features.
2/What goes into that $233? Age is the biggest part at 35%, then the name on the label at 26%, strength at 17%, and the wine-cask fruit at 8%. The marzipan, cherry pie and dark chocolate the reviews note sit inside that small last line.
3/The going rate prices age, name and strength. What it cannot see is the rye and herbal spice, the citrus, and the green tea this whisky is strongest in. None of the features that set the $233 carries a price for the thing it does best.
4/Want to spend more? Glenfiddich 18 is $175, with oak, fresh apple and Christmas-pudding spice. It gives a Quinta Ruban drinker about 78% of what this one does. At $5.79 a standard drink against the pub's $6.28, the Quinta Ruban is a yes; the 18, a yes for a fuller Speyside.
Hand a Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12 drinker the Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 and they'd put it at 78% of what their own bottle costs them, trimming a touch for its port-cask fruit. More on the Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 in this week's piece.
I worked it out over a quiet pour: Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 is $147 for about 25 standard drinks, which comes to $5.79 a glass at home, a little under the $6.28 a standard drink you'd pay for a pint at the pub. The full reckoning's in this week's piece.
A price guide. We take Glenmorgie Harrison Ford Scotch and the three single malts closest to it, and set them side by side: what each usually sells around, the range we've seen, and what a standard drink costs this week. Prices are what you'd find at Dan Murphy's.
If you like Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14, the bottle closest to it is Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12. It gives a Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 drinker about 84% of what their own bottle does, and costs $23 more.
Some whiskies get along with everyone. The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 14 isn't quite that: it's loved most by the people already pouring it. A warm, easy dram with a following, and this week it asks a little more of you than the bottles around it.
A heads-up on Glenmorangie Original 12. It's $85 at Dan Murphy's today. Last Thursday the same bottle sat at $73.95, no offer attached then or now.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
The everyday Glenmorangie is the only one of its three bottles you could call fairly priced. The other two charge for an edition and a flagship, and they charge hard.
Glenmorangie is one of the most recognised single malts going, and its best-value bottle this week is the plainest one it makes. The further you move toward a finish or a famous face on the label, the more you pay over what the whisky is worth to its neighbours.
Only one Glenmorangie is priced near its rivals this week. The other three run from a half again over their company to more than double it.
Three hundred and seventy dollars is a lot to ask for a whisky with no age on the label. That is what Glenmorangie wants for Signet, and it is the single most expensive thing the brand has on the Australian shelf this week.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenmorangie Original 12 Year Old | Highlands | $92.99 | observed | $74.00 | $69.42 | 6.2% | #6 of 38 | — | — | 1 |
| Glenmorangie Signet | Highlands | $369.99 | observed | $369.99 | $271.42 | 26.6% | #36 of 38 | $14.56 | #32 of 36 | 3 |
| Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban 14 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Highlands | $146.99 | observed | $146.99 | $125.17 | 14.8% | #21 of 38 | $5.79 | #21 of 36 | 9 |
| Glenmorgie Harrison Ford Scotch | Highlands | $159.99 | observed | $159.99 | $127.00 | 20.6% | #29 of 38 | $6.23 | #22 of 36 | 3 |